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Pioneer of the Local Food Movement Gary Paul Nabhan Speaks Oct. 31 at Appalachian State University

Oct. 25, 2013. Gary Paul Nabhan, internationally celebrated conservation scientist, writer, food and farming activist and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity, will speak at Appalachian State University Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m. in the McRae Peak Ballroom in Plemmons Student Union.

imgres-1Nabhan’s lecture is sponsored by the Goodnight Family Department of Sustainable Development with support from the Appalachian Studies Program. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 828-262-7248.

Nabhan will speak on “Food Chain Restoration: Averting Food Chain Collapse and the Extinction of Relationships for People and Pollinators.” He will focus on the threats posed to food security and health by the decline of honeybees, bumblebees and monarch butterflies. He will also highlight ecological restoration efforts on the U.S./Mexico borderlands. 

Nabhan has been honored as a pioneer and creative force in the local food movement and seed-saving community by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, New York Times, Bioneers and Time Magazine. 

As the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair is Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Arizona Southwest Center, he works with students, faculty and nonprofits to build a more just, nutritious, sustainable and climate-resilient foodshed spanning the U.S. Mexico border. He was among the earliest researches to promote the use of native foods in preventing diabetes, especially in his role as a co-founder and researcher with Native Seeds/SEARCH. 

Among his many books and essays is “Appalachia-From Rarity to Community Resoration and Market Recovery” (with Jim Veteto), on Appalachia’s rich heritage of food diversity. He is the author of 24 books, the latest of which is “Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land: Lessons from Desert Farmers on Adapting to Climate Uncertainty” that draws on his expertise in agricultural traditions of arid land.